Dear Mr. Cook,

I wanted to reach out and offer my empathy for the fiscal situation your company is in, as well as offer encouragement and a friendly suggestion to help you navigate through this conundrum. Not only am I a business owner that has seen “black” on my books a few more times than “red” (thankfully), but I am also a 17 year veteran in the fresh produce industry and an avid Apple™ junkie, so I DO know a thing or two about apples. That should be pretty valuable to you, considering Steve Jobs was inspired by an apple orchard when he named the company!

The point is, you have some serious extra cash. Your recent comments that you are “not religious about holding [your company’s cash] or not holding it” caught my attention. You have $98 billion to spend, and I have the perfect way for you to put your Apples™ to work with our apples and boost the health of our future consumers in the process. I’m talking about Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the First Lady’s initiative to reduce childhood obesity and as producers of the healthiest food on the planet, our industry shares that mission. We have joined together with Mrs. Obama and a whole host of other organizations and individuals to place 6,000 salad bars into our U.S. Schools by 2013 – we have 5,000 to go! Imagine our children all across this country being empowered to choose a healthy meal at school – think of the brain power this will create!

And that is why I feel supporting salad bars is a noble and suitable solution to your current surplus issue. Your Apple™ can help provide children with more of our apples, which will make them healthier, happier and smarter. Now, I realize that your potential investment in 5,000 salad bars at $2,500 each (yes, that is how little one salad bar costs… such a small investment for a HUGE return!) only takes care of less than one-tenth of one percent of your dilemma. But, I am sure between shareholder dividends (hint: my daughter owns some of your stock) and R&D for the next big iProduct, you will have plenty of options for your dispense. By the way, my company can throw one hell of a toga party!

What’s really important is the fundamental connection between your products and ours and the positive impact we can have. So Mr. Cook, what do you say…Apple™ to apples?

Best of Luck to you!

Dan’l Mackey Almy

Posted by: The Entertainer (Dan’l Mackey Almy)